Shower device provided with water heaters

ABSTRACT

In a shower device wherein a mixture of hot water from a water heater and cold water from a source of supply is supplied to a shower head through cocks, the shower head is provided with at least one hot water discharge port and at least one cold water discharge port. The hot water from the water heater is supplied to the hot water discharge port through a hot water conduit including a cock and the cold water is supplied to the cold water discharge port through a cold water conduit also including a cock whereby the hot water and cold water are admixed near the hot and cold water discharge ports of the shower device.

United States Patent Miyahara et al. Mar. 28, 1972 [54] SHOWER DEVICE PROVIDED WITH 3,078,476 2/1963 Doty et a1. ..4/192 WATER HEATERS 3,430,270 3/1969 Vanegas ,4/|45 2,021,145 11/1935 Dyar ..4/145 1 Inventors 9 3 'Y f Tamlyosl Kawal; 2,898,605 8/1959 Pearson ..4/145 Mlchlo Takatsukl,M1t0-C1Iy,all0fJapan 2,903,710 9 1959 Pearson ..4/145 [73] Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Hokusan, Sapporo City, 3,333,284 8/1967 Symmons ..4/l92 Hokkaldo Japan Primary Examiner-Henry K. Artis [22] Filed: July 28, 1970 Att0rney-George B. Oujevolk [21] Appl. No.: 58,822 [57] ABSTRACT in a shower device wherein a mixture of hot water from a [30] Forelgn Apphcanon Pnomy Dam water heater and cold water from a source of supply is sup- Nov. 16, 1969 Japan ..44/91693 plied to a shower head through cocks, the Shower head is p vided with at least one hot water discharge port and at least 52 us. c1 ..4/145, 4/192 one Water discharge P The Water fmm the Water [51] Int Cl I I 3/22, A47k 3/24 heater is supplied to the hot water discharge port through a [58] Field 61 Search ..4/145 156 192 165/166 water including a and is plied to the cold water discharge port through a cold water 56] Reierences Cited conduit also including a cock whereby the hot water and cold water are admixed near the hot and cold water discharge ports UNITED STATES PATENTS 9f the Shower device- 3,454,082 7/1969 Harke ..165/166 4 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures Patented March 28, 1972 3,651,523

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 T COLD WATER V HOTWATER T ATTORNEY Patented March 28, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 COLD WATER HOT WATER IN VENTOR (i ATTORNEY BY (QM- SHOWER DEVICE PROVIDED WITH WATER HEATERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a shower device provided with a water heater, more particularly to a shower device wherein hot water heated in an instant type or a storage type water heater is admixed with a desired quantity of cold water so as to sprinkle water of the desired temperature through a shower head.

According to one prior arrangement utilizing an instant water heater, as shown in FIG. 1, water from a source is caused to flow through two branches b and b, one of them b extending through an instant waterheater a. The hot water from the water heater a and cold water through branch b are mixed together at a desired proportion by means of hot watercold water mixing cocks c and c in branches b and b to supply the mixture to a shower head d via a conduit e. Cocks c and c maybe interlocked with each other so as to operate simultaneously.

With this arrangement the shower head manifests a large resistance against the flow of the hot water and as the quantity of water is increased the internal pressure in the shower head becomes higher. This increased internal pressure increases the back pressure for the water heater a thus decreasing the flow quantity therethrough and increasing the temperature therein. Actually, however, it is desirable to mix more quantity of cold water, but admixture of such larger quantity of cold water results in further decrease in the quantity of hot water. In an extreme case, the water in the water heater boils, or its heating circuit is deenergized. Such a problem has been considered inevitable in the instant type water heater and no satisfactory solution has not yet been proposed in the past.

Where cocks for mixing hot water and cold water are interlocked for providing so-called one handle mixing operation for a shower device, as can be noted from the graphs shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B in which the ordinate represents the quantity of cold water and hot water and the abscissa the extent of the operation of the handles of cocks, the flow quantity of the hot water varies in accordance with the extent of the operation of the handles. For this reason, when the flow quantity of the water is low whereas when the flow quantity is small, the temperature of the heated water becomes high. Thus not only the flow quantity of the hot water but also the temperature of the hot water varied according to the extent of the operation of cock handles thereby making it difficult to properly control the temperature of the hot water. For this reason even with the one handle mixing system of the best design it is difficult to always obtain hot water of the desired temperature and the operation of the water heater is not stable. Moreover substantial time elapses until hot water of the desired temperature can be available at the shower head after operation of the hot water-cold water mixing cocks c and c.

In order to avoid these disadvantages inherent to the instant type water heater, the storage type water heater has been utilized. But use of such a storage type water heater is not advantages by the reason given hereunder and no satisfactorily solution has been provided.

More particularly, as is well known in the art in the conventionaly storage type water heater, cold water from a supply not shown is supplied to a sister tank B through a float valve G contained in the sister tank B, as shown in FIG. 3. The cold water in the sister tank B is supplied to a storage tank A via a conduit E and the water heated in in the storage tank A is supplied to shower head d through a cock c. Further, the cold water which is in the sister tank B is directly supplied to the shower head through a conduit F including cock c. Generally since sister tank B is located at a level about 2 to 3 meters higher than the level of the shower head the pressure of the hot water supplied to the shower head is less than 0.1 to 0.2 Kg/cm. which is not sufficient to provide efficient shower stream. Even when means is provided to directly supply cold water from an aqueduct to be mixed with the hot water, since the pressure of the water from the aqueduct is much higher than that of the hot water in the heating tank, the pressure of the cold water may prevent supply of the hot water to the shower tank.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved shower device utilizing a water heater which can eliminate disadvantages mentioned above.

According to this invention there is provided a shower device wherein a mixture of hot water from a hot water heater and cold water from a source of supply is supplied to a shower head through cocks, characterized in that the shower head is provided with at least one hot water discharge port and at least one cold water discharge port, that the hot water from the water heater is supplied to the hot water discharge port through a hot water conduit including a cock and that the cold water is supplied to the cold water discharge port through a cold water conduit also including a cock whereby the hot water and cold water are admixed near the hot water and cold water discharge ports of the shower head.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a prior art shower device utilizing an instant type water heater;

FIG. 2A and 2B show graphs representing the relationship between the flow quantities of cold water and hot water, and the extent of opening of the hot water-cold water mixing cocks, especially when they are interlocked;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a prior art shower device utilizing a storage type water heater;

FIG. 4 shows a partial view, partly in section, of one exam ple of the novel shower device utilizing an instant type water heater;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show partial sectional views of modified shower heads;

FIG. 7 shows a graph representing the relationship between the flow quantities of cold water and hot water, and the extent of opening of the hot water-cold water mixing cocks of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of another embodiment of this invention utilizing a storage type water heater.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In one embodiment of this invention shown in FIG. 4, the I hot water from an instant type water heater, not shown in F IG. 4 but corresponding to water heater a in FIG. 1, is supplied to a hot water conduit 2 including a cock 3 while cold water is supplied to a cold water conduit 1 including a cock 3'. Cocks 3 and 3' may be operated independently or simultaneously by means of a suitable interlocking mechanism, not shown. Outlet sides of cocks 3 and 3' are connected to a shower head 6 through conduit 4 and 5 respectively. The head 6 is provided with a plurality of hot water discharge ports 7 and a plurality of cold water discharge ports 8 each concentric with one of the hot water discharge ports 7 to admix cold water and hot water immediately below these discharge ports.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 hot water conduit 4 is concentrically disposed in the cold water conduit this constituting a double walled pipe. Hot water is supplied from hot water conduit 4 to the inner chamber 10 of the shower head 6 and the cold water from the cold water conduit 5 is supplied to the outer chamber 1 1. With this construction, the temperature of the outer casing 9 of the head 6 does not rise to a dangerous value.

In the construction shown in FIG. 4 hot water discharge ports 7 take the form of short pipes at the bottom 10 of the inner chamber 10 and extending through cold water discharge ports 8 provided in the bottom wall 9' the outer casing. In the modified embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the hot water discharge pipe 7 terminates a short distance above the cold water discharge port 8, in which case the cold water and hot water are admixed in the shower head, or in a space between the lower end of pipe 7 and the upper end of the discharge port 8.

In another embodiment shown in FIG. 6, a pointed wedge shaped barrier 13 is partially inserted into a discharge opening 12 of the shower head 6 to supply the hot water from the hot water conduit 4 to the left of the barrier 13 and the cold water from the cold water conduit to the right. Thus the hot and cold water are mixed together in the discharge opening 12. It is to be understood that other constructions may be used to admix the hot and cold water.

FIG. 8 shows a modified embodiment of this invention utilizing a storage type water heater comprising a water heating tank 15 having a float valve 16 and a hot water tank 14 which are arranged similar to FIG. 3.

As above described since hot water and cold water are admixed near the discharge ports 7 and 8 of the shower head, regardless the quantity of the cold water, the internal pressure created by the flow of the cold water does not affect the flow of the hot water or the water heater, thus assuring stable operation thereof. In this manner, even when the pressure of the source is extremely low since the pressure in the water heater is not affected by the pressure in the shower head, the heating means electric or gas of the water heater can be energized positively thus eliminating the danger of boiling. Furthermore, as diagrammatically shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to maintain the quantity of the hot water at a constant valve for varying opening of the cocks even when hot watercold water mixing cocks 3 and 3' are interlocked. Thus the temperature of the hot water is maintained constant whereas only the quantity of the cold water is varied to obtain the shower water of the desired temperature. This greatly simplified temperature control of the shower water.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, even when the cold water is fed directly from the source via conduit 2, since the pressure of the cold water does not affect the operation of the water heater, it is possible to imply the shower under a sufficiently high pressure which could never been attained by the prior art shower.

Regardless the type of the water heater, nearly concurrently with the operation of the hot water-cold water mixing cocks, the quantity of the cold water discharged from cold water discharge ports 8 can be varied so that shower water of desired temperature can be instantly available.

What is claimed is:

1. In a shower device wherein a mixture of hot water from a water heater and cold water from a source of supply is supplied to a shower head through cocks, which comprises at least one hot water discharge port and at least one cold water discharge port provided for the shower head, a hot water conduit extending between said water heater and said hot water discharge port, a cock in said hot water conduit, a cold water conduit extending between said source and said cold water discharge port, and a second cock in said cold water conduit, the improvement therein wherein said hot water conduit passes within said cold water conduit and, each of said hot water discharge ports is concentric with each one of said cold water discharge ports, said hot and cold water mixing only at said discharge ports.

2. The shower device according to claim 1 wherein said shower head comprises an inner chamber provided with a plurality of hot water discharge ports at its bottom and connected with said hot water conduit and an outer chamber provided with a plurality of cold water discharge ports at its bottom and connected with said cold water conduit.

3. The water heater according to claim 1 wherein said water heater is the instant type water heater.

4. The water heater according to claim 1 wherein said water heater is the storage type water heater. 

1. In a shower device wherein a mixture of hot water from a water heater and cold water from a source of supply is supplied to a shower head through cocks, which comprises at least one hot water discharge port and at least one cold water discharge port provided for the shower head, a hot water conduit extending between said water heater and said hot water discharge port, a cock in said hot water conduit, a cold water conduit extending between said source and said cold water discharge port, and a second cock in said cold water conduit, the improvement therein wherein said hot water conduit passes within said cold water conduit and, each of said hot water discharge ports is concentric with each one of said cold water discharge ports, said hot and cold water mixing only at said discharge ports.
 2. The shower device according to claim 1 wherein said shower head comprises an inner chamber provided with a plurality of hot water discharge ports at its bottom and connected with said hot water conduit and an outer chamber provided with a plurality of cold water discharge ports at its bottom and connected with said cold water conduit.
 3. The water heater according to claim 1 wherein said water heater is the instant type water heater.
 4. The water heater according to claim 1 wherein said water heater is the storage type water heater. 